What
is Global Health?
We
were introduced to the concept of “global health” in class this week and we
questioned what is “global health?” When
we "googled" the term “global health”, there are many different non-profit or
governmental organizations showed up as a result. Wikipedia would definite it
as “Global health is the health of populations in a global context and
transcends the perspectives and concerns of individual nations,” but what do people, individuals, students,
professors, etc understands and see as “global” health? I thought I understood
very well what “global health” meant, what it was all about and why there are
so many organizations out there addressing global health issues, but after the
discussion in class, I realized that it was just my perspective of global health. Then in lecture, Professor Alejandro Cerón quoted from Paul Farmer that “global health
is a collections of problems” and followed up that it is “not a discipline (academic
or professional), messy social realities, discrepant claims of causality
(different views), etc. It really made me think how did the term “global
health” come to form? Why isn’t it the term “international health” used as
often as “global health”? Or are those two phrases used interchangeably? What
is the difference in each definition? After reading through the articles from the
course website and searching online, I have a better understand of the term
“global health” and what made it so different from “international health”(
Brown, 62) .
The current definition of global health is an
area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving
health and achieving health equity for all people worldwide”, this is a useful
definition with a broad focus on health improvement and health equity (Beaglehole 1). The term global
health is rather the current term for the historical term “international health”,
which is linked to more political motives than improving health inequality. The
article The World Health Organization and
the Transition From “International to Global Public health” suggest that
replacing the old term “international” to “global” shifts the set of power and
how health issues are addressed, “The
term “global health” is rapidly replacing the older terminology of
“international health.” We describe the role of the World Health Organization
(WHO) in both international and global health and in the transition from one to
the other. We suggest that the term “global health” emerged as part of larger
political and historical processes, in which WHO found its dominant role
challenged and began to reposition itself within a shifting set of power
alliances.” International health was and still intertwined with social,
political, and economic factors and it is formed for a variety of complex
motives far beyond the needs of addressing health inequality.
My
understanding is that international health originally started with economic and
political motives between nations and not necessarily targeting the needs to
improve health in a global scale. “International health-primarily to focus on
control of epidemics across the boundaries between nations (intergovernmental)-
to relationships between governments of sovereign nations with regards to the
policies and practices of public health,” this implies that international
health is used by government as a bridge to build relations among nations for
power. From the journal of American
Journal of Public Health, global health is a “consideration of health needs
of the people, of the whole planet above the concerns of particular nations. ‘Global’
associated-- growing importance of factors beyond governmental or
intergovernmental organizations and agencies,” (Brown 64). This suggested that
global health addresses health concerns in a larger scale than to focus on
governmental relationship between nations.
The
image above shows the globe with a stethoscope wrapped around and hearing it.
This to me implies that the stethoscope is a symbol of health and it is
listening to the world, the globe to be more specific, of the different health
concerns and issues. In my perspective, this image connects to the term “global
health” perfectly because it is how I see and understand what global health
is. To me, global health should not be
linked to governmental relations and political agenda. It should be focusing on
health concerns, infectious diseases, health systems, etc, issues that focus on
nations that need the help most rather than for government to build relationships
with other nations; political purposes.
It should focus on the health of people, of the individuals that are
less fortunate and those who has limited access to health care, resources,
technology advancement and education.
Similarly
to the definition of what was discussed in class that global health is a
collection of problems with less governmental interventions and a focus of
improving health factors; health inequalities. While international health is also
a collection of problems but with a focus of political and economic motives; to
build relationship between governments and nations. Clearly, we can see how the
word international health was formed, when and why did governments, wealthy
interests, and the public become concerned with the spread of diseases across
borders and territories and how the phrase “global health” came to emerged and
replaced it.
In conclusion, I am glad that the term global
health is used today in the context of improving the health of individuals
regardless of the nation and its government relationship. Because if the
international health is still in use (which it is) more often than global
health, I believe that the health issues and global crisis would be improved in
decades due to all the hidden political agenda. There weren’t be as many
organizations, especially NGOs and non-profit organizations, out there to
provide the services and help that is needed most in third world countries
because the government would have not benefit much from helping those nations.
Although, I can see that they will also be obstacles, challenges and
difficulties when addressing global health issues because it is also linked to
social, political and economic factors. At least now I see the difference between
international health and global health.
-Quynh-An Le
Section AH
Work Cited:
Beaglehole, Robert, and Ruth Bonita. "What
Is Global Health?" Global
Health Action. CoAction, 2010. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
<http://globalhealthcenter.umn.edu/documents/whatisglobalhealth.pdf>.
Brown,
Theodore; Cueto, Marcos; and Elizabeth Fee (2006). “The
World Health Organization and the transition from
‘International’ to ‘Global’ Public Health”. American
Journal of Public Health 96(1):62-72.
"Global Health." Wikipedia. Wikimedia
Foundation, 29 Sept. 2012. Web. 03 Oct. 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_health>.
Image
"Guides - What Is Medical Tourism |
Novasans.com." What Is
Medical Tourism. NOVASANS, 2011. Web.
02 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.novasans.com/guides/what-is-medical-tourism/>.
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